Chef’s lunch

Didier Leroy dining outdoors

Where do busy chefs like Didier Leroy grab a quick lunch? Apparently, at All The Best in the little row on Yonge Street that my French friends call “Les Cinq Voleurs”.

I caught the newly bearded Didier (‘It’s my first time growing a beard”, he told me. “Do you like it”) enjoying a quick mid-day avocado sandwich and a cool Limonata under the garlic ropes beside Harvest wagon’s bountiful display of fresh summer peaches and berries.

“I feel like I’m in Provence”, joked Didier, who claims that chefs never get to eat anything in their own kitchens (of course, Didier’s eponymous, and extraordinary establishment is just up the street). “Unless you leave for a little bit, you never get a moment of peace. Besides I like this sandwich, it’s very nice.”

As far as I’m concerned, All the Best should give him a free lifetime supply of avocado sandwiches. Having the chef himself–who is one of only 350 designated Maitre Cuisiniers de France in the world– eating lunch outside their gourmet store is the best free advertisement they could ever imagine.

Happy, yummy birthday

Dolce vita

hot town, summer in the city

Forgive me if my English seems a little rusty, but this week, I have started thinking in Italian, which I have discovered is an excellent way to approach a hazy, hot and humid summer in the city. Continue reading…

Cliff notes

Living legend

I admit to being conflicted about whether or not to go and see Jimmy Cliff when I first heard the 62 year-old reggae legend was playing at Massey Hall. It can be a disappointment seeing a late-in-career artist, no matter how great they may have been in their prime. Sometimes their voices are shot, or they’ve lost their energy for performing and are just limply going through the motions onstage. Plus the audiences, often motivated by the same nostalgia, are usually depressingly old and uncool. Which was why I didn’t go to see Carole King and James Taylor when they were recently in town on their duet tour (and which to all reports, was a mistake). Like my pal Martha says, the greats are still worth seeing, because they will always deliver.  

Luckily I overcame my reticence. Because the man–recently awarded the Order of Merit, so he is now the Hon. Mr Cliff, and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame– is not only a living hit machine, he’s still bursting with love and positive energy: his opening number, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”, had me smiling from ear to ear and dancing in the aisles, and I wasn’t alone. Continue reading…

Duck tales

Fine, feathered and confused

(Warning: This post may contain Darwinian outcomes, and is not recommended for the highly sensitive or faint of heart)

Something odd is clearly up with the duck world lately. Over the past few weeks I have experienced not one, but several duck related incidents, and by the way, I do not live on a farm but in midtown Toronto. Continue reading…

Fashions in hydration

Siphoning it old style in B.A.

 Have you noticed the latest trend in water? First we switched from all that designer water to plain old tap.  Now restaurants are happily serving tap water, but dressing it up for the table in pretty, re-purposed old glass bottles. I saw it first in Buenos Aires, where even old-school siphons con gaz at the table are the thing. 

 But this latest wrinkle in hydration is now clearly water’s latest fashion incarnation. Continue reading…

Halifax take-away

Seaside shiplap

Words are hot. Given the oppressive heat this week here in the globally warming Northeast (isn’t going outdoors like walking into an open oven?), I thought it might be cooling to view some pretty seaside pictures from always cool and breezy Nova Scotia.    

Continue reading…

TV tour

Hello and welcome

Calling out to voyeurs: if anybody who I haven’t yet managed to have over to my place would like to take a peek, not only can they pick up a copy of the August House & Home magazine, as of today they can also go to the House and Home site, and get a personal tour guided by none other than yours truly.  

Here’s the (very long) link:  http://www.houseandhome.com/tv/episode/karen-von-hahns-stylish-home-tour?s=9&utm_source=House+%26+Home+News&utm_campaign=bb5b3f9d86-H_H_Online_TV_2010_July_5_NON_ON&utm_medium=email 

Happy to have you, and so glad you could make it.

Happy Canada Day from Halifax, NS

Happy Canada Day!

Spent a glorious sunny and breezy Canada Day weekend in Halifax, which was so charming in the way it was like the Canada I remember growing up in Toronto in the 60s. It’s so quiet and nothing really seems to be going on–there are like three people on the street and my daughter Sophie, who is living and working there this summer, seems to know all of them. Continue reading…